Handheld electronic devices are becoming increasingly popular in the present world. Examples of such devices include cordless and mobile phones, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), Public Safety radios, pagers and other communication devices. With exponential technological advances, more and more operational features are being incorporated into these devices. For example, users of mobile phones have the option to change the ringtones, modify the ring volume of their phones, change the mode of operation of their phones from the silent to the vibration mode, etc. Typically, a user can change or modify these operational features by using the keys on the keypads of these handheld electronic devices. However, these keys are accessible to the users of the mobile phones only when the phones are not housed in an external accessory such as a holster. The holsters enable users to carry their mobile phones safely and conveniently. However, users may not be able to access the keypads of their phones while their phones are in their holsters.
As mentioned above, if the handheld electronic device is docked in an external accessory such as a holster or a clip, users have to manually take the device out of the accessory before changing any features on them. This may result in unwanted situations for users of the handheld electronic devices. For example, if a user is attending an important meeting and his/her mobile phone starts ringing loudly, he/she will have to first take the phone out of the holster before lowering the ring volume so that the meeting is not disrupted. In another scenario, a user listening to a song by using a handheld electronic device docked inside a holster has to take the electronic device out of the holster every time he/she desires to change a song or the volume. This may result in disturbance and wastage of time, as well as entail unwanted action, whereby the electronic device has to be taken out of the holster and then put back inside it.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated, relative to other elements, to help in improving an understanding of the embodiments of the present invention.